Oil questions could anyone please help?

Question

Could anyone answer these questions please...

The world's oil supply is running out. It won't be gone today, it may not be gone tomorrow, but it will be gone someday — unless action is taken. Consider what you think should be done.

How can the world prolong its use of oil? Should consumers work to conserve the oil that is left?
Should petroleum companies explore and open new oil fields?
Should scientists concentrate their efforts on new technologies to get more oil out of the ground?
Should scientists look for alternative sources of energy?

Answer 1

I was reading an answer on here the other day from someone who was very knowledgeable about oil supplies and he was saying that oil in the form we know it should last another 50 years but there is also a lot of oil mixed with impurities such as sand. There's huge deposits of this but for now we're ignoring it because it's more difficult to extract. I beleive the bottom line was that there's about 100 years worth of oil left from all sources. I don't know whether these figures took into account increasing demand form an expanding population, if not then it will run sooner.

Petroleum companies are continually searching for new oil fields but they're running out of places to look. They'll reach a point soon where there's nowhere left to look and will have to return to less productive oil fields and places where it's harder to extract from. This will undoubtedly require technological and scientific advances and I think it's a safe bet that the oil companies are developing the necessary techniques.

I know one of the UK oil companies has developed horizontal drilling - only one vertical shaft is needed so less environmental impact and the drilling can link many smaller pockets of oil which wouldn't be viable to extract if a new well had to be dug down to each pocket.

As for alternative energy. There are several alternatives already, advances mean these are becoming more efficient. Some areas which until now have not seen much research and development include tidal and wave power. This is being explored more in recent years.

As economies become more and more dependent on overseas oil they'll have to develop their own energy sources if they don't want to be dictated to by the countries that have the oil.

Answer 2

The industrialists and the market will take care of it. Oil (and coal) is still cheap and still plentiful. As oil becomes more expensive due to demand and dwindling supplies, alternative energy sources will be provided by industry and people will be highly motivated to conserve. There is little doubt in MY mind that advances in solar technology will carry future energy needs and these advances will come from scientists in private industry.

Answer 3

the real problem with an oil-based economy is not that oil will run out anytime soon but that it gets more and more expensive to find, extract, transport and burn oil to generate electricity and for use in our transportation systems.

when the price rises above the government's ability to subsidize it with tax dollars, they'll abandon the fossil fuel industries and throw our money into alternatives which are ultimately cheaper. once this happens, wall street and the investment banker community will follow because that's where the most profits will be.

Answer 4

This is silly and pendantic reasoning. The end of oil has been forcast each year for the last 80 years and every year, no technologies for extracting and finding it arise. Best way to deal with the problem is to let the price rise which will provide an unstoppable incentive for clever people to develop alternatives and get rich doing so. The last thing we need is for government to get involved and screw things up.

Answer 5

The end of oil was predicted as early as 1915. Of course oil has its downsides and we should conserve and use alteternate energy if we can. But there's no end in sight for oil.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

Yes to all your questions. Lucky for us that is basically what is happening.